1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an electro-mechanical brake device for an automobile, and more particularly to a parking mechanism and a control method of maintaining a braking force even when a power supply is turned off.
2. Description of the Related Art
JP-A-2001-163198 discloses a vehicle control device in which a braking force maintaining instruction is outputted to a braking device when an automatic stall condition of an engine is satisfied.
In the patent document mentioned above, the braking force maintaining instruction output and the braking force releasing control are carried out based on an automatic engine stop condition, an automatic engine stop release condition and restart condition of the engine. However, any consideration has not been paid to the fact that the braking force is to be maintained at the time when the vehicle is parked on a way of a slope road. This causes a problem that the braking force maintaining control is not performed in case that the vehicle is suddenly stopped by turning off an ignition key switch on a way of the slope road. In that case, there is a possibility that the vehicle is ready to move down along the slope road.